Zombie Parade – Coffin Races – Spook City

Man, I hope you were there for at least some of this. We had so much fun! Before I begin, let me just say that there’s no way I’m going to do it justice. I can’t count how many times I was walking and just stopped to take in the scene all around me. It was surreal.

The first Zombie Parade and Arkansas Coffin Races started off the day and for a first year event, the level of competition and the number of participants was off the charts. We probably had nearly 200 zombies from age 3 to 75. The Make-up team was kept busy from 11:00 right up until 1:00 when the parade started. Along with those, so many of them came already made up. It was fantastic. It was also amazing how well behaved they were. For a bunch of brainless creatures, boy were they attentive and responsive. Thanks to all of them. And didn’t they put on a show during the parade. It was very impressive. I’m going to suggest that next year we have a “Top 10 Zombies” contest – Maybe we can do it like a fashion show on a catwalk and we’ll measure the amount of applause or something. Who knows?

Next came the Coffin Races. I was lucky enough to emcee this event. It was my first emcee job ever, and I was a little nervous, so I screwed up a few things. Luckily I have this space to correct (if belatedly) some of my mistakes.

From the stage I thanked sponsors, fans, and competitors, but I neglected to thank several others that really deserved it.

First, was our volunteers. We had dozens of the best volunteers EVER! The event just simply would not have happened without them. This includes City of Benton employees, including at least five department heads and many other employees (often including spouses and children), and even the Mayor himself who was out picking up extension cords until nearly noon. They were wonderful.

Also, the Key Club and the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council. These young people showed up ready to work and did so with ears open and smiles on their faces all day. Thank you so much.

I also forgot to thank the coffin judges, City Attorney, Brent Houston, Benton Schools Assistant Superintendent, Lita Gattis, and Counseling Clinic CEO, Jim Gregory. They took their job seriously and did it well.

Thanks to the make-up artists for creating what seemed like hundreds of unique and very scary zombie faces.

There were also several individuals, family, good friends, acquaintances, and strangers who showed up and stepped up. I wish I could list all of you by name. I will say this, “Shaun, I hope we never have to touch another tire for as long as we live.”

The other person that I forgot to thank (really red face here) was my wife, Tina Coston. Tina is the Mayor’s executive assistant and was the chairperson of the zombie parade and coffin races. She did a stellar job. Along with her legendary organizational skills, she was also responsible for recruiting all of the volunteers mentioned above. Great job, babe.

Now, to the actual events.

The Zombie Parade was everything we hoped it would be. We had a cool hot rod leading the parade with Mayor Mattingly (the Grim Reaper) riding along playing New Orleans Funeral Jazz.

We had cute little kid zombies and some really old zombies. We also had a few . . . well . . . deeply disturbing zombies. I mean really . . . that guy with the briefcase (he’s in the video). I’m afraid his image is going to pop into my head several times in the next few weeks. I think he might have been a real one that just slipped in to the parade. Honestly, If you were a real zombie, where better to hide than in a crowd of fake zombies, right?

Just about the time the parade ended, about 1:20, we got word that rain was headed our way so we started the Coffin Races ten minutes early and ran through them faster than we would have liked. Even so, the final race was run in the rain. None of this seemed to affect the enthusiasm of either the racers or the crowd, which was pretty darn large by the way. The Fraternal Order of Police actually won the races, but I think everyone who competed felt like they won as well. It was just too much fun to feel bad for not coming in first. The Best Coffin Award was given (deservedly) to the coffin built by Myles Bell. His team was named the “Chrome Coffin Zombies.” Personally, I loved how twelve people decided to “build a coffin” and we got such wide ranging representations of the same idea.

Comments throughout the day were very favorable and I feel sure both events will be repeated next year. We listened and learned quite a bit. All of it should help us to make it even bigger and better next year.

As if those events weren’t enough, then . . .

The rain went away and Spook City started. The streets filled with people looking to have a great time and they weren’t disappointed. I think there may have been more people than ever this year. Everywhere we went the streets were absolutely packed with some of the strangest looking people you’ll ever see. I honestly don’t know where to start to tell the story of this year’s Spook City. There was candy, music, a rock wall, rides, bouncy houses, booths, trains, and a ton of other stuff, but the true measures of success were the smiles you could see on literally thousands of children’s faces. I can’t put my finger on exactly why Spook City is so much fun, but it is. We put on a costume, or some make-up, and a little of our self consciousness falls away. We’re open to more fun and it comes to us. I just love it.

Well, I’ve already written way too much. It was just a wonderful day. If you didn’t make it, or even if you did and you want to relive a little of it, check out the video below. I want to express my deep gratitude to Brent Davis for shooting video of the Zombie Parade and Coffin Races while I was otherwise occupied. Between the two of us we had 149 separate video clips that I was supposed to turn into a three minute video. I decided I’d give one minute each to the Zombie Parade, the Coffin Races, and Spook City. After cutting out everything I possibly could, the video still wound up being just over four minutes – go figure.

You guys knocked it out of the park with the Zombie Walk and Coffin Races! What a great event and, I agree with you Jerry, taking a moment to soak up the atmosphere and the crowd was unbelievable! Great job with the video. I know how much footage you had to go through! Well done!